


Idyll of the Wolf

by knittingkninja



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: First War with Voldemort, Hogwarts Sixth Year, MWPP, Marauders' Era, but also there's some Stuff Going On, just some dorks at school
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-16
Updated: 2018-03-16
Packaged: 2019-04-01 02:03:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13988157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knittingkninja/pseuds/knittingkninja
Summary: There've been enough shady disappearances and enough hexed muggles left in enough abandoned fields for the Ministry to have done something a long time ago, but they haven't. The Wizarding world keeps puttering on, sending their kids to Hogwarts blithely not caring about whether something dark is growing just beyond their line of sight. In their sixth year, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs investigate what they understand to be just a miniature version of the increasingly worrisome climate out there. But is there any chance that things could escalate beyond what four kids still in school can protect?





	Idyll of the Wolf

 

Long after the crowd on platform nine had dissipated, a young girl stood on train platform with a sleeping grey kitten in a cage clutched in her arms. In one hand she held a grubby piece of paper against the bars of her kitten’s cage, and she kept looking from the platform to the page to her cat to the platform again, with tears in her eyes, spinning slowly in that obviously lost way, unable to close her mouth fully, lest sobs well up in the cavity of her mouth. She turned once, twice, three times, taking in the empty platform and the brick barrier behind her and turning back to the paper each time. Unable to hold back the tears, she sat down on her trunk and let out a small wail. 

“We don’t have time to search the whole bloody station, Prongs. Let’s just sit here long enough to satisfy Wormtail and head back. He’s not here,” said a young man’s voice. “He’s probably coming tomorrow.”

The girl looked up, frightened. Two boys stood halfway down the platform, glancing it up and down.

“Or he fell asleep on the tubes or whatever and never even got here.”

“I guess. I wish he’d have let your parents pick him up. You have to be alert on muggle transport and I mean last night was—”

His companion had nudged him on the ribs and nodded toward the girl on the trunk, who yelped slightly and stuffed her paper into her pocket. 

“Have you seen, perhaps, a blonde boy, our age, about eight feet tall, possibly sleepwalking? Possibly just asleep?” asked the second boy, peering at her with interest. 

“No,” she said after a moment. She drew the paper out of her pocket and glanced at it furtively. 

“Are you lost?” asked the first one, “Do you, maybe, have a terrible secret somebody has recently scared you out of telling to strangers?”

“Sirius.”

“What, James?”

“Umm,” said the girl quietly. Tears were still falling down her face, but the sobs had subsided somewhat. “Do you also have a secret?”

“Yes!” exclaimed Sirius. “In all probability, the same one.” 

“What’s your name, my secretive friend?” James asked.  

“Greta,” she said, shifting nervously and brushing her hair out of her face. “I’m looking for, umm, a platform—”

“My liege!” yelped Sirius, interrupting her by falling to his knees. “The prophecy is true! Look, James! That scar!”

Greta giggled, looking at her hand. “I got it falling off a trampoline two years ago.”

“Yes, yes. The prophecy of the tram-po-line, I know it well,” said James with a wink. 

“Let us lead you to you steed, highness,” said Sirius, bowing deeply.  

“Oh-kay,” said Greta, hiccoughing slightly. 

Sirius scooped up the kitten in her cage, while James took the trunk. “This way,”  he gestured. 

The three of them wheeled around to face the brick barrier. James looked around, but found nobody else on the platform. “Coast’s clear,” he murmured, and took a step.

Greta’s breath hitched and she slipped a hand into Sirius’s. “Be not faint of heart,” said Sirius mock-seriously. “We bear magic ‘gainst this foe.”

Before she could be scared of walking _into a solid wall,_ they’d passed through to the other side and onto a smoky platform packed with people dressed strangely. She coughed slightly, and looked up at Sirius, who’d let go of her hand and was scanning the crowd, though how he could possibly find anyone in all this commotion was beyond her. 

“See, nothing to fear!” exclaimed James. “And, ahh, here are your ladies in waiting.” He pointed to a group of similarly scared-looking tiny girls with more extravagant winks and flourishes.

“And, of course, if you need anything, just give a shout,” said Sirius grimly, squinting at at a group of haughty looking boys who were watching them with interest. 

“Honestly. Hogwarts is scary at first but you’ll get used to it,” said James, not paying attention to Sirius. “Everybody’s just as scared as you are, _trust me._ You’re all on the same page _,_ ” he said with a wave as he steered his friend away.

“So. Are you buttering up Muggleborns for your term paper, Padfoot?” he asked, amused. 

“I am surprised. I am hurt. I am bogged by centuries of my family’s guilt to atone for. And, yeah, I’m buttering up Muggleborns to interview for my term paper. No, Pete, we didn’t find him,” he said as a short, round boy approached them. 

“Ahh. Huh. I guess he needed another day to recover. I wish he’d told us,” Peter said with a frown, and beckoned them onto the train. 

“And what about you,” Sirius said, turning to James. “Acting kind to first years to prove to Evans that your hexing days are over?”

“I mean. They _are_ over. For the most part. I’ve turned over a new leaf since the Snivellus thing. You realize I’ve seen him _twice_ since I’ve gotten here and I’ve hexed him _zero times._ That’s improvement.”

“I’m sure Lily will be shocked and aroused by your sudden maturity,” said Sirius as he opened a darkened compartment and flicked on the light. 

“AHA!” shouted Peter. 

Curled against the window was a tall blonde boy, about their age, fast asleep. Or, rather, suddenly wide awake. 

“YEAUGH,” he said, slipping slightly off the seat. “Jeez. I was _asleep_ what is wrong with you lot?”

“Moony! Remus! My darling boy I’ve been worried _sick_ ,” tutted James as he sat opposite him. “Peter wanted to send a search party into the Muggle tubes.”

“Well, you do fall asleep a lot. You know. After.”

“Yes, Pete, I know. And as a special Hogwarts Express exclusive kindness I’m _not_ going to interpret that comment as some kind of innuendo.”

“Thanks.”

“Just this once, kid,” said Remus as he settled against Sirius, who had slid to the seat next to him. “I’m sorry. I just couldn’t stand around on the platform waiting for you. Didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“Har har,” said Peter. “How dare you leave me alone. You realize it had been something like three days since those two had seen one another? It was like I wasn’t even there.”

“Yeah, Padfoot literally pushed him aside when he saw me. Just about pushed him onto the tracks; can you even imagine? _Padfoot:_ basically a murderer _._ ” 

“Yes! Moony please promise me that that’s what you’ll title my biography.” 

“Noted,” said Remus with a yawn. “Wake me when the trolley witch comes by, yeah? I’ve been visiting the Muggle side of the family and I haven’t had a Pumpkin Pasty in _weeks._ ”

“You and your sweets. All your teeth are gonna fall out of your head and I’m going to have to chew all your food for you and nobody’s going to invite us out anymore.”

“Good. Please stop moving. You’re jostling my delicate bones.”

Sirius draped his discarded jacket over Remus and slung an arm around him. “Ahh, you’re right,” he said.

* * *

 

Evidently Sirius had _not_ been able to adequately serve his purpose as a pillow, because by the time the trolley came by Sirius had transferred to the floor of the compartment, leaving Remus curled up over the whole seat and wrapped in a cloak. . 

“Honestly. What’s the point of sixth year?” he asked, returning to his place on the floor and depositing a small mound of snacks next to Remus’s sleeping form. “No OWLS, no NEWTS, no anything.”

“There’s that thing Professor Burbage has you doing, that’s got to be something.”

Sirius waved  a hand. “Essays. Pah! I write essays in my sleep.”

“At least you’ll be with friends,” murmured James petulantly.

“You could have taken Muggle Studies too,” said Peter fairly, opening a packet of Licorice Wands. “It’s dead boring though. I’m glad I dropped it.”

“How was I supposed to know Evans was going to take it? She knows all about Muggles!”

“She’s a real asset, too,” said Sirius. “Always arguing with Burbage. Eyes all a-glint with the passion of injustice and _everything_.”

“Don’t torment me,” said James gloomily, never having quite forgiven Sirius for befriending Lily Evans before he could. 

There was a slight crackling of paper as a Pumpkin Pasty disappeared beneath the cloak pulled over Remus’s head. 

“Care to weigh in, Remus?” asked Sirius. “Are you awake?”

“No.”

“Fair enough,” said Peter. “Hey, aren’t you supposed to be prefecting right now?”

“I wrote to Lily. I’m ill,” he said with a fake cough. He sat up and sorted through the pile of snacks Sirius had left him. “Any Chocolate Frogs in here?”

“Is that really a proper diet for someone who’s too sick to sit through Benjy’s head boy speech with me?” said an amused voice from the compartment door. 

James jumped.

“Lily!” he said with a hearty wave, mussing up his hair with the other hand. 

“Potter,” she said cooly. James froze, hand stuck in his hair.  “It really wasn’t anything earth shattering, so you’re in the clear, Remus. And you _do_ look ill, so I don’t think he or Calliope will quite murder you for missing rounds.” 

“Fenwick’s head boy?” asked Sirius.

“Excellent,” said Peter with a glint in his eye. 

“A push over,” purred Sirius. 

“I wouldn’t count on it. He’s got a real bold streak,” said Lily. “Especially for a Hufflepuff. He’s got you lot’s number.”

“Ahh, I’m sure we’ll be fine,” said Sirius with a wink. James kicked him with what he evidently considered to be subtlety. 

“We’ve turned a leaf.”

“Determined to follow in Remus’s noble footsteps—”

“Sworn as he is to uphold the rules of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and—”

“Remus is just as bad as the rest of you and everybody knows it,” said Lily with a laugh.

“Thanks, Lily.”

“Okay, maybe not _just_ as bad. Anyway. I’ve got to get back to rounds. _Some_ body’s got to talk to Rabastan Lestrange about his trunk not passing the Dark Detectors, and I drew the short straw. Password’s ‘Bubotuber,’ by the way.”

“Thanks, Evans. Always a pleasure,” babbled James.

Lily looked at him with mild detachment and said nothing as she swept out of the compartment.

“I didn’t hex Severus today even though I wanted to and you’re not in earshot anymore but I thought you should— ahh. Why can’t I be normal?”

“Because you’ve only just decided to stop being a prat. It takes time for the body to adjust to a thing like that,” said Remus sagely, unwrapping a Cauldron Cake and breaking it in two. “And the vocal cords are probably the last to go.”

“You may never fully recover,” said Sirius, reaching up to take half of Remus’s cake. “Before long I’ll be chewing all of Moony’s food for him as well as speaking to Evans for you. It’s a hard road, being this good a friend.”

“Yes, but what will you be doing for _me_?” asked Peter

“Whatever you need, Wormy. Carry you around in my pocket, probably.”

“That’s a good deal. We don’t want you running into McGonagall in a darkened hallway.”

“Yeuch. Do you really think she’s eaten rats, James?”

“Well, I mean, I’ve eaten _plants_ off the _floor_ and covered in _dirt_ , so I’d assume.”

“I’ll never be able to look her in the eye again.”

Outside the countryside slid smoothly by, slipping into the soft dark night. Remus looked out the window, smirking at the moon, just less than full above them. Peter flicked the black licorice wands from his packet at him good naturedly, and he chucked a pumpkin pasty in Wormtail’s direction, though both of them knew James would intercept it and all three of them knew he’d break it in half and share. Sirius settled back on the seat, head in Remus’s lap.

“You’re a better pillow than me, anyway,” he said as he pulled the cloak over himself. 

Remus smiled and patted Sirius’s head fondly. He leaned against the window and closed his eyes. 

**Author's Note:**

> Stay tuned next week! Sirius shouts at The Daily Prophet like an old man and James and Peter invent a new game


End file.
